MindLabKids.com launches at a home near you

Launching this week, MindLabKids.com is a new video-based learning portal where children aged 5-12 can discover science and technology from the comfort of their own homes.

Welcome to MindLabKids.com, a new video-based learning portal designed to offer Primary School-age kids the chance to have a Mind Lab experience beyond the lab.

The brainchild of The Mind Lab by Unitec and sponsored by Spark, the new, free platform is now beaming into the homes of kids all around New Zealand … and possibly the world!
“We have taught more than 100,000 children at The Mind Lab over the past three years and have observed that kids are often gutted when they have to leave our labs,” said Fee McLeod, General Manager of The Mind Lab by Unitec. “They want to know and understand more, and they want to take their Mind Lab experience home with them

“We’ve listened to kids and parents alike, and we’re thrilled to present MindLabKids.com, which offers a wide range of home-friendly challenges and experiments that are every bit as exciting and educational as those they conquer in our labs.”

Safe and friendly

Similar to The Mind Lab’s school group and holiday programmes, MindLabKids.com is a safe and friendly platform based around The Mind Lab’s three core pillars – Science, Technology and Discovery – and aims to build knowledge and encourage discovery of robotics, 3D design, animation and stop motion, movie-making, coding, programming, electronic engineering, augmented reality, and more.
“Our MindLabKids.com characters will launch a new video challenge nationwide three times a week around these topics. Kids will be asked to upload a video response to the challenge to demonstrate key skills, such as creating, innovating, failing, collaborating and problems solving. They’ll be able to add their own special twist and share it with their friends and family.

“In simple terms, we want to give kids more; more opportunities to master Mind Lab challenges and greater freedom to explore in their own time. We want to give them more ways in which they can extend their limits, unlock their potential, and grow into the inventors, innovators, makers, doers, and entrepreneurs of the future (or whatever they want to be)!”

Asked kids what they want

The MindLabKids.com team have been on a nationwide search to find a group of ProMindLabbers – a team of 30 kids who have been enlisted to tell the design and build team what kids want. ProMindLabbers will also feature in regular video updates out to the community setting challenges for other kids around New Zealand and the world.

“We’ve been true to our pedagogy,” added McLeod. “Rather than tell kids, we’ve asked them to show and tell us what they want. We’ve included them right from the initial research phase through to getting feedback on prototypes, logos and content topics. It’s been incredible seeing their ideas develop into something that the kids genuinely want.”

MindLabKids.com will join The Mind Lab by Unitec’s other education programmes, including school visits, holiday programmes, teacher professional development programmes, and the recently launched Auckland-based Tech Toolbox for parents and grandparents.